I'M ZONKED.

The transatlantic slog is never much fun.

I left my house in Berkeley at 4AM on Tuesday. It took three planes and over 24 hours of traveling to end up where I am now:
Fiskebäck (Gothenburg), Sweden.

The second leg of my trip (New Jersey to Stockholm) involved a lovely one and half hour interlude on the tarmac, first while we waited for the crew to re-secure the airplane’s cargo door (it was ajar… very confidence inspiring), and then to wait alongside other Continental flights (click on photos to enlarge) for other planes to land, thanks to the thunderstorms holding up the air traffic flying into NJ.

It’s nice to finally sit down in a chair that isn’t 30,000 feet above the ground nor sandwiched in between a plastic wall, a seatback, and other people’s knees. Though the midnight sun was beautiful. As we flew north it never got completely dark.


I’m staying with Swedish friends for several days – and my very gracious hosts, Lina and Magnus, are bringing me along to Midsummer celebrations on Friday.

Rumor has it that there will be SIX different kinds of pickled herring to sample on Friday (I promise to try at least one) along with lots of other Swedish food. Apparently, Midsummer is as big in Sweden as Thanksgiving is in America – lots of food, family, partying. Can’t wait.

On Sunday, I head to Lund by train for check-in and orientation for my program.

**three hours later**

I literally almost fell asleep onto my keyboard while writing this, but I somehow managed to move my laptop to the table before I crashed on the couch. I’ve been fighting the jet lag as hard as I can but I could not keep my eyes open. The nine hour time difference is brutal!

So you know: even at 9PM the sun is still way up there in the sky. By 11PM it will still only look like it's dusk.

Well, everything has gone well so far, but I can tell this is going to be an enormous adjustment. More later!